Posts Tagged ‘s ahmed ali’

Bharati Dubey & S Ahmed Ali I TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 24, 2009)

Mumbai: UTV software and communications, producers of the film What’s Your Raashee? has demanded a compensation of Rs 50 crore each from Adlabs Films Limited and UFO moviez for ‘abetting piracy and infringement of copyright’. Both the parties have been asked to pay up within 7 days.

The masterprint of Ashutosh Gowariker’s yet to be released What’s Your Raashee? was stolen from Adlabs on Monday evening. UTV in its notice to Adlabs mentioned that in violation of the agreement, the masterprint of the film had been illegally copied on the Adlabs premises and sold to persons engaged in piracy, causing huge damage. The notice also alleged that the illegal activity was possible because of some highly-placed persons employed by Adlabs who gained access to the prints and made copies of it.

In its notice to UFO moviez, the producers alleged that UFO employee Rajesh Chowdhry arrested in the case has also confessed to piracy of the film Aage Se Right. “It is apparent that the entire illegal piracy racket has been able to continue unchecked on UFO premises and that their security system does not provide adequate protection,’’ the notice said. UFO has sacked Chowdhry but officials said that Aage Se Right was not released on the UFO platform.

UTV has also written to all producers and distributors’ bodies to send showcause notices to Adlabs and UFO moviez. Also, a film delegation including producer Mahesh Bhatt, senior vice-president of AMPTPP Vikas Mohan, Yash Chopra, Ratan Jain and Mukesh Bhatt will be meeting joint commissioner Rakesh Maria on Thursday.

Meanwhile, two more officials of two private companies, Neerav Shah (30), the manager of Reliance Big Pictures (overseas distributions) and Nagda Kalapi (29), the head of the overseas distribution of Shemaroo pictures, were arrested in the case. Kalapi and Shah get a ‘benefit’ of Rs 35,000 to 50,000 per film, said senior inspector Ansar Peerzade. A video-piracy racket was busted on Sunday. Ashraf Hussain alias Afsar, Feroz Khan and Aman Tanzeem Sayyed were arrested in the case. Their interrogation helped the police arrest Durgadas Bhakta, manager, business development of Adlabs and Chowdhry.

An Adlabs spokesperson said, “The incident in connection with What’s Your Raashee is not attributable to us in any manner. The film prints are recorded under the best possible security measures.’’ A UFO spokesperson Charu Sacham said that the company has communicated separately with the producers’ fraternity and assured them that their business interests and intellectual property are of paramount importance.

S Ahmed Ali | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 5, 2009)

Mumbai: Vaibhav Ashok Gore (28), the son of the retired ACP Ashok Gore, was arrested along with his friend for allegedly uploading his wife and actress Sheena Shahabadi’s personal photos, including some objectionable ones, on a social networking site.

Gore’s friend Tarun Advani (27) from whose personal computer the photos were uploaded was also arrested and his computer’s hard disk was seized, said officer S Gosalkar. “We had arrested them on Tuesday and the court has granted them bail. Our investigations will go on,’’ he said. Gore told police that he allegedly uploaded the pictures with Advani’s help so that she does not suspect his involvement.

Police suspect that Gore did this to take revenge. In the past, Shahabadi who had distanced herself from Gore had filed harassment cases. She had alleged that Gore and his family were harassing her.

Last month, Shahabadi, who recently made her debut with the film Teree Sang, had lodged a complaint with the cyber police station at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) alleging that somebody has uploaded her personal photos on a social networking site. “There were some personal photos of Shahabadi including intimate pictures of her and Gore which shouldn’t have been put on the public site,’’ said an officer.

In her complaint, she mentioned that she suspected that Gore was behind the mischief. According to her, in 2007, she used to attend computer classes in Goregaon where she met Gore and fell in love with him. In October 2008, they got married but the marriage did not last for more than two months.